


Whistling in the Dark

by Brumeier



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Community: ushobwri, Established Relationship, Fear, Ghosts, M/M, Walks In The Woods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-27 19:35:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12589040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: A simple walk in the woods at night takes a decidedly unnatural turn for John and Rodney.





	Whistling in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Boys in the Wood](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12440325) by [mific](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mific/pseuds/mific). 



> Inspired by mific's beautiful artwork.
> 
> For Monster Fest: Ghost, Ghouls and Wraith day at [You Should Be Writing](https://ushobwri.dreamwidth.org/171390.html), as well as for the Supernatural challenge at the [What If? AU](https://whatif-au.livejournal.com/) comm.

“Are you sure they know I’m coming?” Rodney asked. “I know you’re part of the popular crowd and everything, but I’m Science Club.”

John rolled his eyes. “Relax, Rodney.”

“Oh, that’s easy for you to say. You’ve never been on my side of a prank.”

Rodney stumbled and John reached out to steady him. He used that touch as an excuse to take hold of Rodney’s hand. Rodney didn’t say anything about it, just twisted his fingers with John’s. It never failed to fill John with a warm feeling of contentment. 

They were walking through Singen Woods and it was slow going with just John’s flashlight to pick out the path in front of them. The football team was having a party in the clearing, with a bonfire and probably some beer, and John thought it would be fun to bring Rodney. Let his other friends see what a funny, brilliant guy he was.

“Are we lost?” Rodney asked. “I don’t think we should’ve been walking this long.”

“I know exactly where we are,” John replied as confidently as he could. The truth was, he didn’t have the best sense of direction. It was something Ronon teased him about a lot. And at night everything looked the same.

“They say the woods are haunted,” Rodney said. “I mean, only idiots believe in ghosts. Right?”

“No such thing as ghosts.” John didn’t need Rodney getting all paranoid on him. He’d grown up with stories about Singen Woods being haunted, about people vanishing never to be seen again, but that’s all they were: stories parents told their kids to keep them out of the wood.

An owl hooted, the sound echoing and eerie in the dark. Rodney clutched John’s hand more tightly.

“We’re definitely lost. There’s no sign of your party, or your friends, and I think we should go back to the car. Besides, I have that history test to study for.”

Rodney babbled when he was nervous, which John had always thought was kind of cute. Under the circumstances, those kinds of nerves were contagious and John didn’t want to get jumpy too.

“Hey. Relax.” John stopped walking and kissed Rodney. It was the quickest way to shut him up, and it was no hardship for John because Rodney was an excellent kisser.

Rodney wrapped his arms around John’s neck, pulling him closer, and John walked him backwards until he was pressed up against the nearest tree. Rodney kissed John slowly, thoroughly, and John couldn’t help melting into it. It was crazy how one kiss could make him feel so happy, like he was the most important person in the world. At least to Rodney.

And then John stumbled, scraping his chin on the bark of the tree.

“The fuck? Rodney?”

Seconds before he’d been wrapped around John, but now Rodney was gone. Vanished like a puff of smoke. 

“Hey! Rodney!” John swung the flashlight around but there was no sign of his boyfriend. His heart pounded in his ears. He couldn’t have just disappeared, not right out from under John’s hands. “McKay!”

The trees seemed to crowd in on John and he started breathing hard, trying to beat back the panic. The woods weren’t haunted. People didn’t just disappear. They _didn’t_.

“Rodney!”

*o*o*o*

“John?” Rodney looked around, confused. One second he’d been kissing John, and the next his boyfriend was gone. In the literal blink of an eye. “If this is your idea of a joke it’s not funny!”

It wasn’t like John to do something like that, though. For a jock, he was a legitimately nice guy. He was never mean to Rodney, never malicious when he teased him. So where the hell was he?

“Come on, you big jerk!”

Rodney’s voice was too loud in the darkness. Which, he was noticing now, wasn’t as dark as it had been when he and John had been looking for that stupid party. The darkness had taken on a kind of sickly green cast. Had the trees looked that menacing earlier?

A twig snapped behind him and Rodney reacted without thinking. He took off at a run, dodging around trees and stumbling over exposed roots and rocks. The trees seemed to lean in, the branches dipping and tugging at his shirt and his hair.

“John! John, where are you?”

His heart was pounding so hard and he was having a hard time catching his breath. He was lost and panicked and alone. Not a good combination.

Rodney ran for what seemed like forever, a fearful rush that never led him to the road or the party or John. He ran until his legs were burning and his chest was heaving, until he dropped down on all fours and struggled to catch his breath.

“No-one’s coming.”

Rodney choked on his next breath and peered up through the greenish gloom to see who’d just talked to him. There was a girl standing there. She looked a lot younger than he was, maybe his sister Jeannie’s age.

“What?” he gasped.

“No-one’s coming for you.”

“John’s looking for me.” Rodney got to his feet.

“No-one’s coming for you,” the girl repeated. She stared at him, unblinking, and a shiver went up Rodney’s spine.

“Who are you?”

“They’ll forget you. They always forget.”

Rodney shook his head. “No.” John loved him, more than his own family did. He truly believed that.

As if in response, John’s voice echoed through the woods, distorted and faint. 

_‘neyyyyy!_

“See?” Rodney said triumphantly, but the girl was gone. He had the uncanny feeling she was still out there, watching him, he just couldn’t see her. “John! I’m here!”

_Rodneyyyyy!_

It was hard to pinpoint where John was. Sound was as strange as the lighting, which was making Rodney feel a little nauseous.

“John!” 

He tried to retrace his steps but it was hard to figure out which way he’d come. Everything looked the same.

_Rodney!_

“John!”

Rodney wandered and listened and called, until he was sure he’d found the source of John’s voice. Which inexplicably seemed to be coming from _inside_ a tree. He put his hands on the trunk, bark biting into the skin on his palms.

“John? Can you hear me?”

_Rodney?_

“John! I’m here!” Rodney smacked his hands on the tree, unexpectedly stumbled forward, and suddenly he was in John’s arms. “John!”

“Rodney?” John pushed him away and gave him a once-over, his face etched in concern. 

Rodney realized the sick green glow was gone. In fact, the sun was low in the sky, not quite dusk but getting there. It was disconcerting. Had a whole day gone by?

He didn’t care. He threw himself at John, clutching at him. He didn’t know what had happened to him but it was freaky and he never wanted to do it again.

“Where did you go?” John asked, holding Rodney just as tight. 

“I don’t know.”

“Two weeks, Rodney. You’ve been gone for two weeks.”

Rodney froze. Two weeks?

_They’ll forget you._

“I want to go home.”

John kissed him, hard and a little desperate. “Yeah. Okay.”

Rodney was never stepping foot in Singen Woods again.

**Author's Note:**

>  **AN:** As soon as I saw mific's artwork I knew I wanted to write a fic to go with it. I also happened to watch the movie _Watcher in the Woods_ (original and remake) not long after, which definitely inspired this as well.


End file.
